Pax-salon Mailing List: Readings for Sep 15 on health care

[Fred H Olson (fholson]

On Tues. Sep 15 Kip Sullivan <kiprs [at] usinternet.com> who belongs to the
steering committee of the Minnesota chapter of Physicians for a National
Health Program will speak on:

The health care reform trainwreck in Washington

Kip has written  useful background info for his talk.

The first is an article written for the Physicians for a National Health
Program blog criticizing the "public option" movement for not telling the
public that the Democrats' version of the "option" is puny and will do
nothing to bring premiums down. It can be read at:
http://tinyurl.com/kip-baitswitch

( Which goes to:
http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/07/20/
bait-and-switch-how-the-%e2%80%9cpublic-option%e2%80%9d-was-sold/ )

The second is an article quotes Dennis Kucinich urging people to read my
stuff on the PNHP blog and reinforcing what I'm saying about the "option."

Tho it can be read at the url below, truthdig.com requires free
registration to read articles so the short article is included below.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090903_dont_be_fooled_by_the_public_op

Posted on Sep 3, 2009

White House / Pete Souza
By Bill Boyarsky

While the media are transfixed by all the screaming in town halls and on
television, the real work of health care reform is being done in secret by
congressional staff technocrats, government bureaucrats, health industry
lobbyists and sometimes even a member of the Senate or House.

The controversy over the so-called public option is a prime example of what
is happening. Under this arrangement, government health insurance plans are
supposed to compete with those offered by private insurance companies, with
the hope of forcing the private companies to lower prices and expand
benefits. Advocates of this scheme offer it as an alternative to what's
known as universal medical care, Medicare for all or "single payer",
which
would eliminate the role of insurance companies altogether in favor of a
government-only plan. Many liberals say such far-reaching reform is
unattainable. As a compromise, they support the public option.

The fight over the public option has occupied much of the media coverage,
but left unsaid is the fact that weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations
have weakened the public option proposal to the point that it is hardly an
option at all.

I discussed the matter with Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio. Kucinich favors
universal health insurance coverage, not the public option. So do I.

A health care reform bill was approved by the House Energy and Commerce
Committee in July. Kucinich said that a final version?the real bill?is now
being rewritten and will be presented to committee chairs and other leaders,
who will bring the revised version to the House floor. ?It?s happening now,?
he said. "It's being done by the leadership, and we [members of Congress]
don?t know what's going on."

Kucinich is the author of an amendment to the House bill that would ease
federal barriers to states wanting to enact universal care plans of their
own. Legislators are engaged in such efforts in California, Colorado,
Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and
Washington. He told me it "was one of the few provisions in a badly flawed
bill that could provide benefits."

Kucinich suggested I read articles written by health insurance expert Kip
Sullivan on the Web site of Physicians for a National Health Program, which
advocates government-run universal health care. Sullivan, he said, has
figured out the real story.